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Reviews

Editorial Reviews

1) "Another great read from Janice Ladendorf - she does her homework and this book about one of our icons, Frank T. Hopkins, is a fascinating read. Janice has put her talent for research to good use with this new book."

Nanci Falley, President,
American Indian Horse Registry, American Indian Horse News, Summer/Fall 2016.

2) "A Quintessential biography of one of the West's most enigmatic icons"

Modern times frames Frank Hopkins as the hero of the nearly-impossible
long-distance mile race through the deserts of Arabia dramatized by the movie "Hidalgo". But the actual man was much more than that. Buffalo hunter, mustang wrangler, ranch rider, performer, courier, and long-distance rider, he embodied every aspect of what
we think embodies virtually all parts of the American West. Though not without its controversies, the story of Frank's life is a rich tale of adventure, adversities, and pure self-reliance.

In the wild-west days of Frank's late 19th-century Wyoming
territories, records (and people to keep them) were few. To unlock Frank's true story the author, Janice Ladendorf, became part detective, part scholar, and her dogged research has assembled an impressive framework of information on him that provides details
from sources large and small. Personal histories, diaries, memoirs, letters, rare photographs, and even show programs helped Ladendorf fact-check the legends, and rebuild what is likely the most complete picture of Frank that yet exists.

A look back
into cowboy life at its most raw, exciting moments, this is a book that documents fascinating details of daily living. Sometimes poignant, sometimes raw, it gives the reader glimpses into the now-forgotten ways of people living the very embodiment of the 'romantic
West' of the 1870s. In many ways Frank himself was both an ordinary man and an extraordinary one--from his own standpoint, he simply took his daily skillset, and tested it to the absolute limits. In living his life he traveled to far-flung places, inadvertently
becoming an important part of showing the world what it meant to be an American. Thorough and fascinating, this book is without doubt a quintessential biography of one of the West's most enigmatic icons.

Lyne Raff, Editor/Publisher, Art Horse MagazineAuthor, My Heart is Too Full to Say More: The Horse in the Civil War